originally established in the cities of Greece, and has probably taken place among the primitive inhabitants of most countries. It may easily be conceived, that in ignorant nations, guided by omens and dreams, and subject to all the terrors of gross superstition, this branch of power, when added to the conduct of war, and the distribution of justice, will be an engine of great consequence to the magistrate, for carrying through his measures, and for extending his authority.

As, in conducting the affairs of a community, in the management of what relates to peace or war, and in the administration of justice, various abuses are apt to be committed, and many more may still be apprehended, the people are gradually led, by experience and observation, to introduce particular statutes or laws, in order to correct or ascertain their practice for the future. Even this legislative power, by which all the other branches of government are controuled and directed, is naturally assumed by the chief, after he has acquired considerable influence and authority. When the members of his tribe have become in a great measure dependent upon him with regard to their property, they are in no condition to dispute his commands, or to refuse obedience to those ordinances which he issues at pleasure, in order to model or establish the constitution of the society.

From these observations, we may form an idea of that constitution of government which is natu

4

rally introduced among the members of a rude tribe or village. Each of the different families of which it is composed is under the jurisdiction of the father, and the whole community is subjected to a chief or leader, who enjoys a degree of influence and authority according to the superior abilities with which he is endowed, or the wealth which he has been enabled to acquire.

As

The rudest form of this government may be discovered among the Indians of America. these people subsist, for the most part, by hunting or fishing, they have no means of obtaining so much wealth as will raise any one person greatly above his companions. They are divided into small independent villages, in each of which there is a chief, who is their principal leader in war. He bears the name of that particular tribe over which he presides; and in their public meetings he is known by no other. His authority, though greater in some villages than in others, does not appear in any of them to be very considerable. If he is never disobeyed, it is because he knows how to set bounds to his commands. Every family has a right to name an assistant to the chief; and the several heads of families compose an assembly, or "council of the elders," which is accustomed to deliberate upon all matters of public importance *.

*«L'autorité des chefs s'étend proprement sur ceux de "leur tribu, qu'ils considerent comme leurs enfans."- "Leur

Each individual is allowed, in ordinary cases, to "take up the hatchet," as it is called, or make war upon those who have offended him. Enterprises of moment, however, are seldom undertaken without the concurrence of the assembly. Each family has a jurisdiction over its own members.

"pouvoir ne paroît avoir rien d'absolu, et il ne semble pas qu'ils ayent aucune voie de coaction pour se faire obeir en cas de résistance, on leur obéit cependant, et ils comman"dent avec autorité; leur commandement a force de prieres, "et l'obeissance qu'on leur rend, paroît entierement libre.”"Bien que les chefs n'ayent aucune marque de destinction et "de superiorité, qu'on ne puisse pas le distinguer de la foule "par les honeurs qu'on devroit leur rendre, à l'exception de quelques cas particuliers, on ne laisse pas d'avoir pour eux un "certain respect; mais, c'est surtout dans les affaires publiques (6 que leur dignité se soûtient. Les conseils s'assemblent par "leurs ordres; ils se tiennent dans leurs cabanes, à moins qu'il "n'y ait une cabane publique, destinée uniquement pour les "conseils, et qui est comme une maison de ville; les affaires 66 se traitent en leur nom; ils président à toutes sortes d'as"semblées; ils ont une part considerable dans les festins, et "dans les distributions generales." "De peur que le chefs "n'usurpassent une autorité trop grande, et ne se rendissent trop absolus, on les a comme bridés, en leur donnant des ad'joints, qui partagent avec eux la souveraineté de la terre, et "se nomment Agoianders comme eux."—" Après les Agoi"anders, vient le Sénat, composé des vieillards, ou des anciens, "nommés dans leur langue Agokstenha : le nombre des ces se"nateurs n'est point dèterminê: chacun a droit d'entrer au "conseil pour y donner son suffrage." P. Lafitau moeurs de sauvages Ameriquains, 4to à Paris, 1724. tom. 1. p. 472475.

But the members of different families are at liberty to settle their differences in what manner they please; and the chief, or council, interfere only as mediators, or as arbiters; unless upon the commission of those enormous and extraordinary crimes which excite the general indignation, and which, from a sudden impulse of resentment, are instantly punished with severity *.

* Ibid. tom. 2. p. 167.-" La décision des affaires cri"minelles apartient immédiatement à ceux de la cabane des "coupables, par rapport aux coupables même, quand quel"qu'un d'une cabane en a tué un autre de la même cabane: "comme on suppose qu'ils ont droit de vie et de mort les uns "sur les autres, le village semble ne prendre nul interêt au "disordre qui est arrivé.-L'affaire change bien de nature, "si le meurtre a été commis à l'egard d'une personne d'une

cabane differente, d'une autre tribu, d'une autre village et 66 encore plus d'une nation étrangere; car alors cette mort "funeste interesse tout le public; chacun prend fait et cause "pour le défunt, et contribue en quelque chose pour refaire

l'esprit (c'est leur expression) aux parens aigris par la perte "qu'ils viennent de faire; tous s'interessent aussi pour sauver "la vie au criminel, et pour mettre les parens de celui-ci à "couvert de la vengeance des autres, qui ne manqueroit pas “d'éclater tôt ou tard si on avoit manquè à faire la satisfac"tion prescrite, dans des cas semblables, par leurs loix, et par "leurs usages."-Il est des occasions où le crime est si noir, "qu'on n'a pas tant d'egard pour garantir le meurtrier, et où "le conseil, usant de son autorité suprême, prend soin d'en "ordonner la punition."-Ibid. tom. 1. p.486, 487, 490, 495.

See also the view which is given of the state of government among the Americans, by P. Charlevoix Journal historique d'un voyage de l'Amerique, let. 13. 18.

From the accounts which have been given of the wandering tribes of shepherds in different parts of the world, it would seem that their government is of the same nature, though the power of their leader is further advanced, according to the degrees of wealth which they enjoy. In proportion to the extent of his herds and flocks, the chief is exalted above all the other members of the tribe, and has more influence in directing their military operations, in establishing their forms of judicial procedure, and in regulating the several branches of their public administration. Thus the captain or leader of a tribe among the Hottentots, who have made but small progress in the pastoral life, and among the wild Arabs, who have seldom acquired considerable property, appears to have little more authority than among the savages of America. The great riches, on the other hand, which

*The Arabian tribes, though they have been for many "ages under the Turkish yoke, are rarely interrupted, either "in what may concern the course of justice, or in the suc❝cession to those few offices and dignities that belong properly to themselves.Every Dou-war (i. e. village or encampment) therefore may be looked upon as a little principality, over which it is usual for that particular family, "which is of the greatest name, substance, and reputation, to

preside. However, this honour does not always lineally "descend from the father to son; but, as it was among their "predecessors the Numidians, when the heir is too young, or "subject to any infirmity, then they make choice of the uncle, "or some other relation, who, for prudence and wisdom, is